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Best Free Registry Cleaner
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Introduction
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The registry is what keeps your computer running; it tells the computer what to do when certain events happen. However, as you use your computer, a lot of unwanted and unnecessary information is written into the registry, and this usually occurs because you've installed and uninstalled programs or updated versions of existing programs. This gradual accumulation of unneeded or incorrect information will, over time, slow the speed of your computer.
A registry cleaner tries to get rid of this unwanted data and restore your PC to full speed. The problem is that the cleaning process is less than perfect. In particular, there is always a small risk that the registry cleaner may incorrectly remove data that is actually needed. In the worst case scenario, your PC may become unusable as a result. That's why it's absolutely essential that you backup your registry before using a registry cleaner. For most users the easiest way to do this is to create a system checkpoint. An even better way is to use a drive-imaging program to create a snapshot of Windows, which you can use for system recovery if needed. As an added layer of protection, that may actually be more effective than System Restore, consider using the excellent ERUNT utility. This ever-present risk of problems is why the "best" registry cleaner is the one that causes the fewest problems, rather than the one that finds the greatest number of registry errors. Thus it is evident, a registry cleaner is - if at all - a tool reserved for the experienced user. The inexperienced may be assured that since the introduction of Windows XP, registry cleaning is no longer a crucial issue for the stability, security and performance of your system. Don't mess around with it! |
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Discussion
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Editor
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This software category is maintained by volunteer editor Remah. Registered members can contact the editor with any comments or questions they might have by clicking here. |
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Comments
I was reading your review of best registry cleaners and decided to extract the Wise Cleaner. Within the exe package is a file called "linkhint.exe" which has a digital signature from ZhiQing Soft Ltd. which I think is the company that puts out the series of Wise software.
See:
http://www.snapfiles.com/publishers/7133842.html
Since I haven't installed the Wise Cleaner, I'm not sure what linkhint.exe does to the registry or to any browser, but it does something as discussed on this German forum. The translation may be a little off, but I think you can get some idea of the situation:
http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=de&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.computerbase.de%2Fforum%2Fshowthread.php%3Ft%3D1047170
The file appears clean as per this Virustotal scan:
https://www.virustotal.com/file/2abfd4dfc774210169df68540ede306c810201c03d8cb1e2488f18eae82d8825/analysis/1336448632/
Does anyone know what "linkhint.exe" is used for? I think it's also in their other freeware programs.
wise registry cleaner updated to version 7. Reworked interface and more new features.
Why not try Argente Utilities. At least worth to be reviewed. I use it quite some time now and seems to be a good regcleaner. Its a suite with lots of other possibilities like spywareremoval and immunization like spywareblaster and found me some uncovered ones. Fully configerable also and very lightweight. It fits in lots of different catagories but i find it nicer than for example eusing rc. wich was my old fav. By the way, they offer all tools as stand alone as well.
As I said in response to the previous comment, I will be reviewing it when I have time to do another round of tests.
I'm not sure if this has been mentioned before but I'm curious as to what you think of this Cleaner. A big plus I noticed with this is it creates a Log of scan results which makes thing a lot.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/littlecleaner/
Thanks for the suggestion. I'll probably include it in my next group of RCs for testing.
I've already done a first round with nine free registry cleaners. They'll be the basis of the first update to the article. Those with * are dedicated cleaners whereas the others are cleaning suites:
Auslogics Registry Cleaner*
CCleaner
Comodo System Cleaner
EasyCleaner
Eusing Free Registry Cleaner*
Glary Utilities
jv16 PowerTools 2011
nCleaner
Wise Registry Cleaner*
Later in the year I'll have look at a further group of up to ten from this list:
AML RC, Argente RC, Chily RC, Handy RC, Little RC, Free Registry Fix, Dedaulus System Cleaner, PCSleek Free Error Cleaner, Privacy & Registry Cleaner, Power Tools Lite, RegCleaner, RC Scantool, Registry Distiller, Registry Repair Wizard, RegSeeker, Spybot, SS Registry Fixer, TweakNow Power Pack, Vit Regisry Fix, Winner Tweak RC, Your Cleaner, Your Free RC.
*makes thing a lot easier to research before deleting a RegKey.
Warm welcome Remah
I'll be giving this category a complete overhaul now that I've tested several Registry cleaners.
What do you think about these utilities
1,Tweak now registry cleaner: http://www.tweaknow.com/RegCleaner.php (very fast, though not deep)
Have removed second link, since its rated orange on WOT.
Yup checked it now....was about to delete....you're speed is comparable to that of a rocket!
:P :P
When you comment on the effectiveness of software (such as Registry Cleaners), you should state the operating system (because it may work differently on Win XP, Win Vista, Win 7 etc.). To say it doesn't work is meaningless unless you state the conditions (ie CCleaner version 2 did not work on Vista - just an example of conditions), because version 3 may work fine.
The effectiveness of Registry cleaners is not the amount but the items (or keys) that it corrects.
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hope this helps
falcon
I've been looking for a good registry cleaner, so using your advice, I tried Wise Registry Cleaner Free. Unfortunately, it's not free. The scan is free and then they charge $30 to do the repairs.
So, then I tried WinUtilitiesFree, which was free.
2 questions: is the Wise product better enough than Win to justify spending the $30? Would I be better off adding the other free cleaner, Glary Utilities and using it Win?
Thanks
Go to the link given in the Quick Selection Guide and then download it from there.
How is it not free? I wish people would read a site properly before rushing to contradict on here.
You've obviously downloaded the 'pro' version.
Correct observation. I just downloaded and ran Wise Free myself and there were no restrictions imposed. There is a product comparison page on their website.
After reading the reviews & comments here, it left me somewhat confused. Eight pages of do this, no, don't, never do this. I'm an intermediate level computer user that's looking for clarity. I found it in the review, but not the comments.
Some comments seem to be biased toward points of view, rather than on fact or experience. The 'experts' recommend this, that or the other thing, but add to the chaos of noise. What to do?
Follow the review, add the Wise cleaner, back up the complete registry, notice that it found 320 registry errors on my system, remove them & optimize the system. Result: an immediate increase to operational efficiency of the computer. No crashes, no glitches, no problem, only a good outcome.
For those that never want to touch the registry, fine, do your own thing & don't touch it. Others are looking for solutions to increase efficiency & cleaning the registry does that in my Windows Vista 32 bit system. That is a fact that has been demonstrated to me.
Please folks that make comments, think through what you want to say & please don't add confusion. I didn't come here for that.
I'm the new editor for this Best Free Registry Cleaner section. Please allow me some time to read all the comments and suggestions. After which, I will begin adding and reviewing suggested freeware.
here is what tech republic are recommending as of jan 6th 2012. perhaps you could give us your opinion (i am always happier if freeware has also been recommended by gizmo!)?
doh! missed out the website! http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/five-apps/five-free-windows-registry-cleaners-to-keep-your-system-running-smoothly/1236?tag=nl.e064
Welcome aboard. Waitng for your results... :-)
I don't know about every registry cleaner out there and I know there are a lot of arguments both ways for and against registry cleaners. And as someone who has been a computer electronics technician for about 30 years (formally trained in both theory and application), I can only speak from my experience.
As for CCleaner, personally, I have never seen the attraction of this utility, except for cleaning out temp files, etc., which I have a batch file set up to do a bootup anyway, but with all of the accolades it gets, one just cannot argue with that. It must be a great utility and it does do what it says it will do and reliably at that! :)
To address a comment, ALL utilities can cause harm if they are not used properly and wisely and the user just assumes to let it do whatever it wants with the results, so that, to me, is not a valid argument (no offense) against registry cleaners as a whole.
Let me give you a quick example:
I have been having a problem with Win7 Ult x64, in that every time I close a folder (Desktop folders), or sometimes even when I go to open a sub-folder, I would get an error message that "Windows Explorer has stopped working" and that "a program (etc) has caused it to stop working". Now could I pick through the registry and figure it out? Yea, I probably could. But that could be very time consuming!
I normally use "JV16 Power Tools" (Editor: removed reference to paid product) and it does a pretty good job at taking care of registry problems when they crop up (cleaners can also eliminate problems, by cleaning out errant entries). But it did not take care of this. I was about to dig into the registry, when I decided to just take a quick peek here, to see what someone might suggest for such types of problems and I saw that Wise had moved up in the ranks.
So I tried it and not only did my problem IMMEDIATELY disappear (I rebooted after cleaning the registry with WRC (Wise Registry Cleaner) before testing it out), but my whole system snapped to life! Everything ran as soon as I clicked it, whereas before running WRC, everything was very sluggish and you could run off a long count before what you clicked would come up.
I have had this experience many times when working on systems in the past and these utilities have solved a lot of problems that otherwise, would have cost my customers a lot of money (labor time), while I sifted through the registry looking for an exact problem, so both they and I do appreciate these utilities, although I would warn that folks should be VERY CAREFUL what is checked after a scan and not to trust just any reg cleaner! Wise is a good name in this area and I always recommend that one use a portable version of any program that has one! I install portable versions of every program that I can on my system, because the less to deal with in the registry the better and no need to "uninstall" the program! :)
[Editor: Reference to a paid product removed]
Anyway, thanks for tolerating my too long comment and to sum it up (and reiterate), Wise Reg Cleaner is a great little reg cleaner and it worked great for me and saved me hours and possibly more hours of tedious, labor (mental) intensive work! It fixed my problem in one shot and made my system snap to life! So yes, I will run it probably once every 3 months and see what it finds. :)
And FYI, a friend of mine who is also a customer has had a problem with Windows Updates no longer wanting to install for some time now (he's been too cheap lately to pay me ) and I sent this to him (out of gratis for his past business) to see if it would help him and guess what?! It did! He can now update his copy of Windows! This is great, considering how expensive Win7 is to buy when your system didn't come with it and you should be able to update it! Hahaha! :)
And just FYI, with the portable Wise Reg Clean (there is s small link below the regular download), just unzip it, put it and its folder into the 32 bit programs directory and create a shortcut to the executable and that's it! You're done! :)
[Editor: Reference to another paid product removed]
I use CCleaner every few days and have done so for as long as it's been available. Never a problem. Also, about once a month I clean with Wise R.L. (after using its reg backup feature). Likewise, never a problem. I install and test about 4 or 5 new programs every day and uninstall those I don't need/like with Revo uninstaller advanced option. If using Wise.R.L, I carefully examine all the entry detail, just in case.
[edit] commercial software details removed.
I feel that I have some registry problems if for no other reason than I have had this computer for four years. I am not a very good computer nerd and I have not become educated on the registry issues. I can generally understand instruction IF the instructor does not use slang and lots of pronouns.
What, generally, am I looking for when I use a registry scan program?
Can anyone recommend an basic article on the registry? I have a touch of attention deficit disorder and find that long technical articles are a proven cure for insomnia. And that would be complicated with dementia which is common at my age.
Thanks,
Dieter in Cincinnati
Registry cleaners or so called "speed up you PC" tweak tools (which usually contain one) can do more harm than good, and in a worse case scenario completely destroy your Windows install. Some programs are more aggressive than others and therefore more difficult to use and have a correspondingly higher risk factor. When Regseeker first became popular for instance, my own tech re-installed more Windows systems because of this program than ever were messed up by malware. In short, despite the "safe" claims made by product vendors, you need to know exactly what you are doping in order to delete anything from the Windows registry.
IMO if your system still works and your programs function as they should, I would leave well alone. Otherwise, you will need to post details of any errors you may be seeing in a technical forum to obtain the best advice for a fix.
You may also find this interesting:
http://chris.pirillo.com/are-registry-cleaners-safe-to-use/
Bull, the article is tosh.
I read the article which really doesn't say much apart from mentioning speeding up registry searches and fragmentation. It says more about one person's credentials rather than the much needed technical justification or reliable test data. The arguments there are essentially illogical because the reason that removing entries doesn't affect performance is almost exactly the same reason why fragmentation is not really an issue either.
Fragmentation, in the sense of related program entries becoming separated in the registry, occurs naturally if we install and uninstall software, upgrade with new registry entries, or add any keys ourselves. I've never read anybody saying that has a negative impact on performance or that we should regularly optimize our registry files.
If only someone would produce a definitive article on this.
PS I could have started with "In my humble opinion (IMHO)" except that I don't have a humble opinion.
You don't have a relevant or valid one either and the way you communicated it is adolescent like. Defragmenting a hard-drive and needlessly tinkering with the registry are two completely different things, as well you should know.
You misunderstand. I mention neither of the topics you berate me for.
I made no comment related to "tinkering with the registry".
My comment responds to the article use of the term "fragmentation". This is in the database structure rather than in the file system on the hard drive. As the article says, it occurs when registry records are deleted and new records are added in the freed-up space. It is unrelated to "Defragmenting a hard-drive" but would be related to the use of ERUNT's companion tool NTREGOPT, a registry optimizer.
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